Integration
by reniRCx
Summary: Peter's power is empathy, and that means he notices things about people. Peter's point of view on his power and many other characters. Set mid-season 1.


When Peter regenerates, he thinks of hope.

He thinks of Claire, of course. He remembers that first time they met, in the dim hallway in front of an awards case. He remembers her sad, resigned eyes, and surprising maturity. _It gets better _and the sad smile he'd received in return.

He remembers Claire from half an hour later, terrified and covered in blood but still moving, so strong, so determined to get out alive. _The Cheerleader, _as he'd wrenchingly discovered. Claire and all she represented, living on even through death.

And then later, in Peter's cell- Claire's questions and desperation. How before and after those precious few minutes, she would be playing along and lying every moment of her life, to the people she cared about most. For all the virtual chains she was in, she found a way.

Peter had saved the cheerleader, and hell, the world wasn't over yet. Maybe that didn't mean anything, but Claire Bennett is still hope personified.

* * *

><p>Peter can stop time by thinking of change.<p>

He thinks of Hiro when he first met him, Hiro from the future. Self-assured, confident, and strong. A man who could change the world and knew it. But then, there's also Hiro from the second time he met him, broken English over the phone, the dorky man he had met in person later.

But every so often, Peter sees the future man in Hiro. In his determination, his righteous selflessness. In the inner strength that Peter doubts ever had a chance to surface before he'd discovered his power and come to America. Most of the time, Peter can barely imagine the two Hiros he's met being the same person. And then Hiro would do something so smart, so perfect, that Peter can see the two men as being one.

* * *

><p>Peter flies by thinking of anger.<p>

Not real anger, though, it has to be the exhaustively passionate, honest anger that one can only feel towards someone they love. It's real, hot anger, but anger with the feeling that it doesn't matter at all, that whatever he's angry about could never come between them for good; couldn't change the love they'll have for each other the next day.

But it seems like it's always like that with Nathan now, half of their conversations turning into cold arguments rife with concealed anger, always on the verge of actual violence. Peter doesn't understand, Nathan doesn't want to understand, and they always seem to revert to childhood when arguments get too deep.

He thinks of anger the way he was angry at Nathan when he jumped off the building for real that first time, of every argument they had when Nathan had his head buried so deeply in that stupid election that he couldn't see more important things right before his eyes, like when they were twelve and ten and Nathan always wanted to get away from Peter, would take off without him.

He knows that he shouldn't define his relationship with his brother by anger, but the strangest thing that his power requires is honesty.

* * *

><p>When Peter is horrified or disgusted, he can use telekinesis.<p>

But then again, Peter is a nurse and worked hard to become so, he sees horrifying, disgusting things in his daily work and normally doesn't mind. It's just what he does.

So logically, he should feel the same way about Sylar. Disgusted, but indifferent.

But it's not quite that.

Sylar _intrigues_ him.

It's a combination of his reputation and their brief encounter. It's a combination of the fear of even his name that's been instilled in most of the people he knows. It's the cryptic way he talked about power, and the hushed voices of the police who talked about him in Texas.

Fear, power, illusion.

Death, thievery, deception.

Sylar was horrible. Sylar epitomized all that was horrible about the world. But for all that, Sylar was certainly one of a kind. It's the same morbid intrigue that pushed him to become a nurse, then to become a hero, that makes him think of Sylar.

As awful as the prospect is, Sylar fascinates him.


End file.
